Is Joaquin cracking?

His wildly explosive performance in The Master is one of the greatest ever filmed. But is Joaquin Phoenix’s crazy rage more than just an act?

Phoenix on fire: watch the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master

M
aybe you can think of an American film actor ­possessed of more power and
intensity than Joaquin ­Phoenix. I can’t. The 38-­year-old, dark, brooding
and mysterious, has that unnerving ability to inhabit the characters he
plays completely — types as diverse as the psychopathic Commodus in
Gladiator and the haunted ­country singer Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, both
of which secured him Oscar ­nominations. It’s such a strange and consuming
talent that some believe Phoenix deserves mention alongside the greats of
American film acting: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Robert De Niro.

Phoenix’s latest performance, as a feral, violent, war-damaged ex-sailor in
The Master, may be his most profound and dangerously inspired. Insiders are
predicting that, although he seems to ­disdain it, he could walk away with
the best actor Academy award for the first time next year. He and his
co-star Philip ­Seymour Hoffman, who plays Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic